Today Was A Fairytale

May 5, 2010 - Holy cow...what a day...

We began at Stonehenge. Yes, Stonehenge. We didn’t spend much time there, but there was plenty time to take many many pictures, all of which will probably find their way onto Facebook. I find Stonehenge a really intriguing monument – there are several theories as to why it was built and what it was used for. I’m in favor of aliens building it, like the pyramid :)

After Stonehenge, we went to a small town call Bemerton. It was so picturesque, I can’t even say. I want to live there. All the streets were tiny and we visited the Bemerton Church where the poet George Herbert worked as the clergyman. He lived right across from the church and wrote much of his wonderful religious poetry there. My favorite poem of his is the following:

Love (3)

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

I can’t believe I got to visit where he lived and wrote – it was so perfect. Tiny houses from hundreds of years ago lined the streets. The chapel was tiny – about 30 people worship there each week. I fell in love with this little place. It was like stepping into a Jane Austen novel.

And then my day got even better. We went to Wilton House where William Herbert, the 18^th Earl of Pembroke and 15^th Earl of Montgomery lives. Still lives. A real Earl. And he’s a young guy! He’s getting married in three weeks and the entire town is very excited. We got to explore parts of his house – we walked through the rooms where they filmed bits of the new Pride and Prejudice, Young Victoria, and Sense and Sensibility!

It was amazing. There were portraits by Van Dyck and paintings by Rembrandt and also one partially by da Vinci. And the rooms were so gorgeous and decadent. As we continued through house, we found a display containing – get this – a pair of Fred Astaire’s dancing shoes!!! The Earl bought them at a charity auction. They were signed by Fred and the note included with them was written by Fred himself. I nearly died. I literally almost began to cry. Fred Astaire’s shoes!!! It was the PERFECT house! Jane Austen and Fred Astaire all in one building – yes, I’m in love! I so wish we could have taken pictures. And then we went on the grounds – the extensive grounds.

Wilton House has the most beautiful land surrounding it. The pictures don’t even do it justice. I literally felt like carriages should be driving up for a ball or people should be strolling through the grounds in Regency attire, chatting about the weather and Miss So-and-So’s new beau. I was in heaven. Apparently some people from our group actually ran into to the Earl too. It’s like a real life fairy-tale here.

You’d think it couldn’t get any better. But it did J We next went to Stourhead. For you die hard Jane Austen fans, you’ll know that this is where they filmed the first proposal scene in the new Pride and Prejudice – the one in the rain where Elizabeth refuses Mr. Darcy. And we went there! To the very spot!

It’s at the Temple of Apollo at Stourhead and we took hundreds of pictures. All the girls were dying. We also took pictures by the bridge that Elizabeth runs across in the same part of the movie.

It was so amazing. All of Stourhead is so incredibly beautiful! Once again, the hundreds of pictures I took do not do it justice. The flowers, the lake, the trees, the Pantheon, everything – amazing. It was like walking through heaven for the third time that day. England is so so so beautiful! I can hardly stand it!

This was the best day in England by far.

After the bus ride home I got Italian food and gelato. I have eaten so much here…I may come home fat, but I’ll be fat and happy.

Today was a fairytale.

A Journey Into Medieval London

Today I journeyed into what I think of as England’s Disneyland – The Tower of London. They had people dressed up as famous kings and queens and such (don’t worry, we chased down the really attractive King and got a picture with him). We explored the ruins – so fascinating!

There were displays of armor in the White Tower from centuries past. Our favorite was this gold encrusted one worn by King Charles I. It was all so unreal – such history and culture all in one place. I absolutely loved it. We saw the area where many famous people were beheaded, including two of Henry VII’s wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. We saw the crown jewels – amazing! They wouldn’t let us take pictures, but it was awesome. I love the tradition of the monarchy. Sometimes I think it’s a little too much – some of the crowns and such had diamonds on them that were worth enough to feed a small country – but it is an amazing cultural tradition, something that has always held some romance for me. We saw the Bloody Tower where Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned for 13 years and where the mystery of the deaths of the two young princes, Edward V and Richard, Duke of York. They are rumored to have been murdered in the Bloody Tower, which is why (among other gruesome tales) is why it has that name. I bought myself a little souvenir knight and then went home to do some serious reading. It was a wonderful day!

He's there...inside my mind...and I love it!

Today was a blur – we had class in the morning, and then in the afternoon my friends Jessica and Kristen and I went on a walk through Hyde Park, right by where we live (see previous post for details). Before we actually started the walk we were approached by these Indian guys who wanted me to take their picture – “Please, take?” was what they kept repeating. So I took their picture. Then one of them pointed at me – “Please?” He wanted a picture with me! Why? Who knows? Both of them took pictures with me – SO AWKWARD. And then they wanted pictures with my friends. It was so random but a really awesome story ha ha.

After the walk (which was absolutely marvelous – I love Hyde Park!) we ran down to Ben's Cookies, the most amazing cookie place I've ever been to. London has all these little shops dedicated to one thing - cookie shops, chocolate shops, sock shops, etc - way more than you see in the US.

After dinner we hurried off to see Phantom of the Opera!!! It was amazing! I’ve never seen in live before, so I was freaking out. In fact, I began crying when the chandelier lit up at the beginning and the music began playing. The music is so amazing! I loved it. And the Phantom had the most incredible voice, as did Christine. I wish my dad could have been there to see it too – it’s his favorite. He would have loved it. Wow, such a great play. Two amazing plays so far! London is the best for musicals. And now, I must sleep, for tomorrow is going to be a long, big homework day. Yuck. But today was epic fun. So that helps J

A Stroll Through Hyde Park

Today I went on a lovely walk through Hyde Park, which is right by where we live here in London, adjacent to Kensington Gardens. So beautiful!!!

We began our walk at Marble Arch, which used to be the royal entrance to Buckingham, but it ended up being too narrow for the grand coaches so they rebuilt it where it currently is. Now the only people that can go through the arch are the senior members of the royal family and and the King's troop. I find that I am rather enchanted with the monarchy here in Britain. Today in our British politics class we talked a little about how the monarch doesn't really have any power to veto or do anything like that, and I was kind of wondering why Britain even still has a monarch at all. But I like the idea of the Queen and royalty - I feel like it's a wonderful national unifier. After Marble Arch we went to Speaker's Corner, where on Sundays orators and hecklers gather to preach on issues from religion to politics. I learned that Mormon missionaries used to preach here too, but the practice stopped in the 1960s.

We moved on towards Hyde Park Corner (the picture on the right is of the beautiful road to the Corner) and found the statue of Achilles (see picture to left), who was rather magnificent but also rather naked.

It was made in honor of the Duke of Wellington for his victory at Waterloo, like many things in London, and paid for by the "women of England"who were mortified when they found out they were associated with such a scandalous statue. I thought that was rather amusing. We observed the Apsley House, the Duke of Wellington's house and also designated "#1 London" because it was the first house after the toll gate coming into London from the country.

We went across the street and visited the equestrian statue of Wellington and Wellington Arch, which is also called Constitution Arch because it sits at the top of Constitution Hill (see pictures at right). Today, it is a symbolic entryway into London from the west and from Buckingham Palace which is down the road. On top of the arch is Peace Descending on the Chariot of War, the largest statue in the UK. And believe me, it is big.

The best part about this arch is that it used to be a police station. Very interesting building to have a police station, I think :) Back into Hyde Park we went, and we encountered Rotten Row, a long dirt road where many duels were once staged and where you can take horse riding lessons for the sum of 49 pounds an hour. That's a little pricey for my taste, but the dueling was free so we did that instead ;) (see picture at left).

As we strolled along Rotten Row we saw some of the most beautiful bits of London we've seen so far - it was amazing! It was right along the Serpentine, where there were boats out on the water and lawn chairs you could sit in. People were rollerblading all around us. It was such a beautiful park and a beautiful day.

At the end of Rotten Row is where the Crystal Palace stood during the Great Exhibition of 1851 (which made me think of North and South) and also nearby is the Lady Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain (see picture at right). Hyde Park is so beautiful - I absolutely love it! Everything is well taken care of and it is absolutely massive. It made me wish I had my rollerblades here so I could see the entire park. This park totally beats any park in the US, by far.

A Not-So-Sunny Sunday

Today we experienced our first rainy London day! Kinda inconvenient though, trying to walk to church through the freezing rain. We didn't realize the tube would be so much faster, so we walked all through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park to get there. Beautiful, but wet and cold :) Church was really good - it still amazes me that the church is the same everywhere you go. On the way home I took my first ever double decker bus! Woohoo! I rode on the top level and everything. I love the buses - you get twice as many people on and they're just cooler anyway.

Today I took like a 2 hour nap while reading for my English class. It felt so good, and I'll totally be able to sleep tonight still, no problem. Jet lag stinks...We all just realized that we have to read and create a presentation on our Jane Austen books by next Monday. That's kinda soon. I'm not too worried though, since I'm way excited to read Emma. I love the content of the class, but sometimes the workload seems a bit steep considering our other class and all the fun stuff to do in London.

Today I felt kind of a revival of how amazing it is here and how fortunate I am to be here. I love it. I love walking through Kensington Gardens on the way to church. I love riding the tube everywhere. I love being 20 minutes away from Big Ben. I love hearing all the languages and accents around me. At the beginning I think I was too homesick to really appreciate all this stuff, but now I feel more excited to be here. I'm just a homebody that needs a good nap to adjust.

We had a fireside tonight with President Steven R. Snow of the 70 and an area 70 and their wives. They were all so amazing, and just what I needed to hear. Earlier today the Hyde Park Stake President also spoke to us. He said something really amazing - he encouraged us to take our time here to use our homesickness and our unsettled feelings to grow closer to God. He said that getting away from all things familiar is a great way to find out who you really are and strengthen your relationship with God. That was perfect for me to hear, and I began to realize that if i put my trust in God this semester, like I have before, that I will have time to do everything I need and want to do. I will be effective in my classes and also have an amazing time. Let's just hope that my teachers grade easier than they did last semester - everyone who was here then said that the classes totally killed their GPAs and were impossibly hard. Ugh...I'm too much of a worry wart. I'll be fine. :) Wish me luck!

My First Saturday in London

Today was actually a pretty chill day...I'm kind of glad it was too because we've been so GO GO GO here that I was kinda getting stressed. It's nice to just sit back and realize that I'm not leaving next week, so I don't have to run out and do everything right now.

Today I went to Kensington Gardens (see previous post). I kept thinking of Finding Neverland, cuz I was in the park where J.M. Barrie met the Llewelyn-Davies! It was fun to think that I was walking where amazingly important and famous people had been walking. And it was gorgeous :) Definitely beats any of the parks from back home.

Then I had kind of a break down because I realized how much reading and such I had...and I stayed home doing it while other people were out at museums and markets and such. I think I'll be better about getting my work done so that Saturdays are more play days than catch-up on homework days. Of course, we were just given our homework yesterday, so there hasn't been much time to do it besides all day today. It's a bit crazy, this schedule we have - so much reading to do in 6 weeks. I'm kinda worried this semester is going to totally ruin my GPA. But GPAs aren't everything, right? That's what I'm going to keep telling myself...

The Centre doesn't provide meals for us on Saturdays, so I ate toast for breakfast and leftovers for lunch, and then for dinner we went out to Kahn's, an Indian food place right by where we live. It was really good! Definitely worth a visit. Still need to get fish and chips in a pub, though. And do some fun shopping type activities. My new favorite treat? Nutella toast. Probably because I haven't bought any candy here yet and I need something sweet, and that's all there is :)

And right now, I'm supposed to be reading once again. I'm having a hard time focusing. What else is new? I'm just trying to learn how to not let my school assignments completely stress me out while I'm here.

Kensington Gardens

Today my friend Tiffany and I went on a lovely stroll through Kensington Gardens. They are located pretty much directly down the street from where we are staying. We started off walking down Embassy Road, where the guard kindly told us not to take pictures. It was lined with beautiful mansions, many of which were Embassies for countries like Nepal and Russia - hence the nick-name "Embassy Road." We then went into the park and we saw the gilded gates of the palace. They were so cool! Behind the gate (you can barely see it in the picture) was the statue of William III who was the first monarch to live in Kensington Palace. We also saw the statue of Queen Victoria (see picture to the right), carved out of marble by her daughter. As we walked down the path we saw little kids running around playing football (soccer for you Americans) and cricket.

It made me laugh because it totally reminded me of my soccer experiences when I was little - parent coaches and kids running around aimlessly. Somethings are just international I guess. There were lots of joggers and dog walkers, especially on Broad Walk and around the Round Pond. I loved the Sunken Gardens - they were so colorful and beautiful (see picture to right).

We went down Flower Walk, which was really pretty but I bet will be more so later on closer to summer - the roses were not quite in bloom yet, but they looked about ready to explode. We saw the Albert Memorial as well, which also made me laugh (and apparently made Mark Twain laugh too - he called it the best joke he saw in London) because Albert didn't want a huge memorial, but the one the committee in charge of it gave him was obviously very huge and elaborate (see picture to right).

My favorite aspect of the actual park, however, was how some of the grass was finely trimmed while other bits were left to grow. We were told it was to create a more rustic look - I just found it amusing that one would have to manufacture something to look naturally rustic. It looked very nice. We saw the statue "Physical Energy" by Frederick G. Watts and then walked along the Serpentine or Long Water. We got to see the Peter Pan statue, which I absolutely loved!

He has fairies swirling around him below, and there's in inscription which shows that it was a gift from J.M. Barrie who lived nearby. It was placed there 98 years ago today - May 1st 1912! The Italian Gardens were beautiful (see picture on right). I can't wait to see them later on in my stay here when the flowers are more in bloom.

There is also a pet cemetery in Kensington Gardens which initially made me laugh, but then made sense to me because the British take such good care of their pets - I've never seen a cleaner park or more city-dwellers with dogs. We also saw the Peter Pan Playground, which is actually the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground. I wanted to go in so badly, but they only let you in if you are with a child under the age of 12...It looks like so much fun! There's a pirate ship and everything.

The Elfin Oak (see picture to left), just outside the entrance to the Peter Pan Playground, was a very intricately carved dead tree surrounded by a protective fence. It was carved by Ivor Innes and you can donate money by throwing money into the cage, kind of like a wishing well I guess. There were fairies and elves poking out of different areas of the tree.

There was also a fountain-clock nearby (see the picture on the right). For some reason, I love the inscription on it - time flies - with the seagull.

Kensington Gardens was so beautiful! It's amazing that it's in the middle of the city, yet it feels so secluded and away from the bustle. There were so many different kinds of people there - a family from France with their children, a couple from Mexico, etc. I love the diversity I see here. And I love that I am living in the middle of all of this - I am continually amazed at the access we have to such places and sites.